locomotive drive

[ol'joe]

I figured I would start this thread tonight and follow up in a couple of days when my work settles down.

All sorts of small vehicles are being electric powered by batteries, but I spent a few years at a copper mine just as the Terex haul trucks were taking over.

The haul truck itself weighed in at about 250 TONS, and it would haul another 250 tons of either waste or copper ore. It was powered by a 16 cylinder Detroit diesel that powered a generator about the size of a pickup truck. The alternator that excited the coils in the generator was about the size of a household refrigerator, and the power was provided by two traction motors inside the rear axle, each of which was smaller but more heavy than a 350 cubic inch chevy engine.

There was a lot of gearing to reduce the speed of the traction motors and increase power, but the end result was the loaded truck, total weight 500 tons, could achieve about 45 MPH on level ground.

After we had been repairing them for a year or so, they told us that the setup was the same as a general motors locomotive....the ones that pull trains.

It is in my head to build an electric vehicle powered by a generator powered by an engine...….Joe

 

[Functional Artist]

Sounds interesting

 

[anickode]

If you found or built a generator setup with a manually variable Exciter voltage, that's about all you'd need for a throttle control.

Large automotive alternator without a regulator

Replace the avalanche diodes for ones that will support higher voltage. An auto alternator will quite easily output 100+ volts DC with a full 12v running to the Exciter.

Control the exciter manually via rheostat or electronic control

Use it to drive a DC motor.

 

[landuse]

Look forward to this one!!

 

[ol'joe]

I worked on and with alternators for years, and the first "inverter" (not really that) setups were just the alternator that was on the car with a double pole double throw switch. The switch disconnected the regulator and put 12 volts to the field windings. The output terminal on the alternator was unhooked from the battery and routed into a 120 volt receptacle, the other side of that routed to ground.

With the thing full fielded and the large amp draw of the battery removed, we got 100 to `120 volts to run power tools and light bulbs and such at engine idle and could draw around 700 watts until the battery started to sag.

Absent a functioning regulator, we could put a tail light bulb in series with the field windings and get a steady 5 amp charge to the battery in emergencies.

I have also built some pretty good motors from old Chevy starters. I know that they overheat if used as they come from the factory, but they are a great motor to alter, since one can route every connection through the case and re-connect them externally for things like reversing direction and eliminating 1/2 of the field windings for a lower amp draw and lower power.

I also removed the nose piece and replaced it with a flange mount pillow block bearing that rode on the spiraled part of the shaft where the drive normally rides. That left the tip of the shaft where the sprocket went a bit undersized and so I had to make a detent in the shaft with a drill for the sprocket set screw to ride in.

I do not know the capacity of modern automotive alternators these days, but it looks to me like it would need about 300 amps to duplicate a 5 HP engine. Of course, the great blessing is that there is no need to settle for just one alternator running on a set of belts, and multiples of lower amp ratings would prob'ly be cheaper than one huge beast.

I have a friend who runs a rebuild shop in town and will check with him next time I go there.....Joe